Fort Lauderdale worker David Havell helps restore an eruv demolished by Hurricane Wilma.
Several were damaged across South Florida.
Throughout South Florida, symbolic walls brought down during Hurricane Wilma are being repaired.
In strict Jewish observance, on the Sabbath, people are prohibited from carrying anything from a private domain, such as their home, to a public domain, such as the synagogue.
Orthodox Jews rebuild spiritual borders that fell victim to Wilma
Several were damaged across South Florida.
Throughout South Florida, symbolic walls brought down during Hurricane Wilma are being repaired.
In strict Jewish observance, on the Sabbath, people are prohibited from carrying anything from a private domain, such as their home, to a public domain, such as the synagogue.
That means no carrying keys, no pushing baby strollers, no carrying prayer books, not even picking up babies
“God wants us to enjoy the Sabbath and not suffer,” said Rabbi Sholom Blank of Chabad Lubavitch. “King Solomon said if we enclose the entire community and make it like one big house, then we’re allowed to carry.”
The imaginary “walls” that encompass a Jewish community around most Orthodox synagogues are known as eruvs. It is common for the areas to be defined by canals, man-made boundaries such as fences and power lines, and symbolic boundaries created by stringing wire. The eruvs, which are usually hung from light poles, allow religious Jews to carry items such as books and house keys outdoors on the Sabbath, in essence extending the home.
Some of those wires from South Florida eruvs were torn down during Wilma.
At some synagogues, such as Young Israel of Hollywood, the eruv was repaired within weeks of the storm.
City street light crews helped Chabad Lubavitch of Fort Lauderdale repair their eruv on Galt Ocean Mile on Friday. It took two workers almost three hours on a crane to make the fixes to the 600 feet of fishing line that were on the public right of way, said David Hébert, the city’s director of public relations.
The city, which has assisted the synagogue by installing the lines in past years, “wanted to ensure everything is back to safe conditions,” Hébert said. “We had the equipment, and we were going to be up in the neighborhood. We wanted to accommodate the request.”
Others, like the Chabad of South Broward Congregation in Hallandale Beach and the Chabad Ocean Synagogue in Hollywood, still have another week until privately hired maintenance workers can make the fixes, said Blank, who specializes in overseeing eruvs in communities in Aventura, Sunny Isles, Hollywood and Hallandale Beach. The repairs cost thousands of dollars, he said.
“It’s a problem,” said David Edelman, a member of the Chabad Lubavitch of Greater Boynton Beach, an Orthodox synagogue west of Boynton Beach, which also had a downed eruv.
The 10-square-mile eruv around the Chabad in Boynton Beach was completely destroyed, so synagogue leaders erected a temporary one around the Wyndsong Estates community, where many members live.
West of Boca Raton, the 20-mile-long eruv was only out of commission for two Sabbaths. Orthodox synagogues Young Israel of Boca Raton and the Boca Raton Synagogue share the eruv.
“It made everyone think and rethink how they were going to organize themselves,” said Rabbi Eliyahu Rabovsky, of Young Israel. “What do I need in synagogue? What do I leave home?”
Some people, especially moms with young children, had to stay home altogether. Though reconstructing the eruv cost thousands of dollars, synagogue leaders made it a priority. About half of it was damaged, mainly involving downed fences and utility poles.
